tapas – Travel stories

And then we were back in Vila Nova de Cerveira (you’ll be needing my map for this one…) for the night. Travelling the way we do means we often have ~~problems~~ challenges to work out. Our attitude when one of these challenges arises is key to getting through it without ~~killing each other~~ life changing consequences. So whenever we solve something like the lack of strong data we celebrate with a high five or an extra coffee or even a meal out.

My Aubergine gratin and behind it Denis’ mushrooms in lemon with a little cheese grated on top

We found (thank you google maps) a great tapas restaurant called Curt’isso in Vila Nova de Cerveira. Tapas is a Spanish thing and it means a small snack but they are so much more. They are usually small but small is a relative measure so you can end up very easily ordering too much. I suppose it’s like getting lots of starters instead of one big meal. They can be cold or hot, simple or exotic. I love it. It’s difficult but I always try to start with one and order a second if I’m still hungry. Denis does something else…

Denis’ fried potatoes with two different dips, one tomato the other possibly red pepper

Anyway we decided to celebrate and go to Curt’isso and we were not disappointed. Every dish was different and my mouth is watering just thinking about them now. Denis was a little disappointed because he couldn’t finish… he ordered 4, hmmm.

My sardine on pesto bruschetta. Look at me eating fish!

Next day we head for Spain and the city of Pontevedra (see map below) and would you believe we have a problem again with data. So off we go along the inlet to what turns out to be a beautiful place called Poio. The data there was great and at the end of the day we returned to the city.

Unfortunately, there was a new problem when we arrived back – no space at the motorhome parking. Made worse by the fact that we had received a recommendation for a tapas place from a local and we had been imagining all day rushing off to dinner the moment we arrived back. But no… we had to drive on. And on. Two hours later we arrived at a car park in the Camino city of Santiago de Compostela! (Hello Helena!)

This is the only picture we took in Santiago de Compostela at Cafe Bar 13. Denis had scallops and I had a potato, chorizo and fried egg dish

Fortunately for us the Spanish eat late. We were sitting down to our celebratory tapas dinner at 10pm. The following night we had breakfast cereal for dinner. Living the dream.

My map is suffering from lack of advance planning. I may have to move to Map Edition 2. Also, I seem to have hugely underestimated the size of north west Spain. Plus, there’s a very attractive and large inlet missing at Vila Nova de Cerveira and another at Pontevedra… map making is not without its own challenges

2018 2

(The restaurant was closed this morning when I went to take a photo so you won’t see how lovely it looked when the lights were shining, but remember the Portuguese Cafe God? The architecture is Art Deco)

We had a lovely restaurant experience last night. I forgot to bring my camera and I forgot to take pictures of the food with my phone. It was just lovely and now there’s no proof. I found the restaurant on the internet and even though it had a strange name I got a good feeling from the reviews. It’s called Art Deco Cafe and the reason became clear when I went back to the a picture of it today. But back to the reviews, they weren’t all good in fact one was very critical but the owner replied to the reviewer in English and in a quirky way. So I was in.

2018 1

(This is a different cafe celebrating 125 years in business!)

I’m reading another book called Getting Messy: A Guide to Taking Risks and Opening the Imagination for Teachers, Trainers, Coaches and Mentors (long name!) by Kim Hermanson. It’s really interesting and it talks about becoming more aware of how you feel when you’re reading something or talking to someone because that’s feedback of your experience and that’s where your wisdom lies. So for instance, when I was reading the review for the restaurant, I could be wondering if the critical reviewer was a better judge of food than me. But what’s more useful is to notice what I’m feeling as I read the review (and the reply). I was feeling even more curious about the restaurant than I had been. I felt it might be worth visiting.

2018 3

(Spring is here)

It was worth visiting. It was a tapas restaurant and as we can’t read Portuguese and we didn’t recognise any of the options we asked for suggestions and they were great suggestions. We started with a sheep’s cheese from northern Portugal that was melted with olive oil and some herbs and the top of it was crusty – yum. Then we had a baked sausage that was soft like a pie with toasted flaked almonds on top served with an apple sauce – yum, yum. And finally we had brochette with sardines and tomatoes on top – yum, yum, yum. I hope I’m getting across that I loved it and Denis did too.

2018 8

(Love the streets)

It wasn’t just a food experience there was music too. One wall was covered with LP covers and there was a mixture of jazz and Leonard Cohen playing in the background. The furniture was also interesting, I’m guessing it was from whenever Art Deco is from but it could have been from the 70’s. There was also a little entertainment. The only other diners, a young couple were having a heated discussion and as luck would have it their language in common was English. The music volume was little too high and Denis was talking non stop about a Mars expedition so the details of their discussion escaped me. They did leave hand in hand, though.

I will definitely trust my feelings when I read a review from now on. Mairead.